Letter from Rabbi Moshe Bezalel Alter of Gur, son of the Sfas Emess & brother of Imrei Emess. ...

Letter from Rabbi Moshe Bezalel Alter of Gur, son of the Sfas Emess & brother of Imrei Emess. 1906.

Addressed to Rabbi Yisroel [Yaakov] Araten in Krakau. Rabbi Araten was the author of "Emes veEmuna" on the Kotzker Rebbe, and 'ALon Bachos' in the sefer Hashevet MiYehuda on the Sfas Emess.  

Harav Moshe Bezalel Alter Hy"d [1868-1943], was the second son of Harav Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Ger, the Sfas Emes. Rav Moshe Betzalel had a sharp mind, in the Kotzk style. He was an outstanding masmid and lamdan. His father the Sfas Emes said of him that he was a tzaddik tamim. Rav Moshe Betzalel was chosen by the Imrei Emes to be the baal toke’a in the beis medrash in Ger on Rosh Hashanah. It is related that from merely hearing his brachos before the tekios, many Chassidim already had a hirhur teshuvah. At the outbreak of World War II, Rav Moshe Betzalel moved with the Imrei Emes to Warsaw until a rescue effort for the Rebbe was undertaken, and he managed to escape the Nazi inferno and ascend to Eretz Yisrael. The original plan called for Rav Moshe Betzalel to join the Rebbe, but he chose to stay behind with the people. Rav Moshe Betzalel was taken to the Warsaw Ghetto and forced to work like other Jews.

In the summer of 1943, Rav Moshe Betzalel was taken with a large group of Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka. He was murdered by the Nazis, yemach shemam, on 23 Elul.